‘I do not, and did not, desire war, but you have forced me into it.
Judging by the tone of gentle restraint and friendliness adopted by the French Emperor, Balashev became quite convinced that he wanted peace and was prepared to negotiate.
‘Your Majesty! Emperor and master,’ said Balashev, launching into his long-prepared speech the moment Napoleon had stopped talking and had levelled a quizzical look at him, but he felt disconcerted with the Emperor’s eyes upon him. ‘You look confused. Pull yourself together,’ Napoleon seemed to be saying, as he examined Balashev’s sword and uniform with the ghost of a smile. Balashev did manage to pull himself together and start speaking. He told him that the Emperor Alexander did not see Kurakin’s demand for his passports as sufficient grounds for war, that Kurakin had been acting on his own initiative and without the Tsar’s approval, and that the Tsar had no desire for war, and no relations with England.
‘Not
After running through all he had been told to say, Balashev asserted that the Emperor Alexander wanted peace, and was prepared to negotiate – on one condition . . . At this point Balashev demurred, remembering the words Tsar Alexander had left out of his letter, but had insisted on having included in the open letter to Saltykov, and had instructed Balashev to repeat to Napoleon. Balashev recalled them: ‘. . . until every last enemy under arms has left Russian soil,’ but he was held back by a feeling of some complexity. He couldn’t bring himself to utter those words, however much he wanted to. He faltered and said, ‘. . . that all French troops withdraw beyond the Niemen.’
Napoleon could see how uneasy Balashev had been over those last words. The Emperor’s face twitched, and his left calf began to pulsate rhythmically. He remained rooted to the same spot and his speech became louder and faster than before. During the ensuing outburst Balashev found himself continually looking down to stare at the pulsating twitch in Napoleon’s left calf, which intensified as his voice grew louder.
‘I am no less desirous of peace than the Emperor Alexander,’ he began. ‘I’m the man who has spent eighteen months doing everything possible to obtain it! For eighteen months I have been waiting for an explanation, but before negotiations can begin what demands are placed upon me?’ he said with a scowl, stabbing the air with a puffy little white hand by way of a question.
‘The withdrawal of your forces beyond the Niemen, sire,’ said Balashev.
‘Beyond the Niemen?’ echoed Napoleon. ‘So you now want me to withdraw beyond the Niemen – only beyond the Niemen?’ he repeated, looking Balashev straight in the eyes.
Balashev bowed his head respectfully.
Four months before he had been told to withdraw from Pomerania; now they wanted no more than withdrawal beyond the Niemen. Napoleon spun on his heel and started pacing up and down the room.
‘You tell me I am required to withdraw beyond the Niemen before negotiations can begin. But you made the same demand two months ago for me to withdraw beyond the Oder and the Vistula, and yet you are still willing to negotiate.’
Silently he paced the floor from one corner of the room to the other and then came to a halt right in front of Balashev. His face seemed to have set hard and his left leg was twitching faster than ever. Napoleon was well aware of his twitch. ‘The pulsation in my left calf is a great sign with me,’ he would say in days to come.
‘Demands like these – for me to abandon the Oder and the Vistula – can be made to a prince of Baden, but not to me!’ Napoleon almost shrieked, taking himself by surprise. ‘If you gave me Petersburg and Moscow I wouldn’t accept conditions like that. Are you saying I started this war? Well, who was the first to go out and join his army? The Emperor Alexander, not me. And here you are offering to negotiate when I have spent millions, when you are an ally of England, and when you’re in a weak position – now you offer me negotiations! What’s the purpose of your alliance with England? What has she given you?’ he snapped. He was obviously no longer concerned with the benefits of a peaceful settlement and the discussion of any such possibility; his sole intention was to demonstrate his own righteousness, his own power, and to demonstrate Alexander’s wrongness and error.
His opening words had clearly been intended as an indication of his own advantageous position, and his willingness to negotiate despite it. But here he was in full flow, and the more he talked the less capable he became of controlling what he was saying.
